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Do American universities have an obligation to educate their students to be the next generation of citizens and civic leaders? What does it mean for a university “to offer students an education that will promote their flourishing as human beings, their judgment as moral agents, and their participation in society as democratic citizens”? Join a workshop with leaders from th...
At a moment when decades of academic achievement have been lost, can we amplify the benefits of A.I. equally across society, or will we allow a deeper digital divide to leave out even more students? Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan talks about the potential for this nascent technology to transform education, activating and engaging an entire generation to create chang...
Digital skills open doors to jobs in tech, media, and across all industries. Connecting diverse students and workers with the education and training needed for the 92% of today’s jobs that require digital skills creates a pipeline of talent, critical to driving economic opportunity and mobility.
As members of the Giving Pledge, Melanie and Richard Lundquist have given more than $400 million over the past decade to critical causes ranging from educational opportunity to health care access to climate change mitigation. What drives a modern philanthropist to do what they do, what models of giving work best, and where are the opportunities for private dollars to make...
With students learning in more places and different ways than we have ever seen, the pace of change in education is dizzying. Join our panel of education experts in a discussion about what the classroom of the future will look like, how educational innovation can bridge divides, and how we can work together to get there. Presented by the Walton Family Foundation
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. This year, the Supreme Court is once again considering the constitutionality of race-based affirmative action programs, and its ruling may have a profound impact on the makeup of America’s most selective colleges and universities. How sh...
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. Debates over the content of our historical narrative and cultural values have Americans of differing ideologies engaged in heated battle, with educators and students caught in between. Meanwhile, have we failed to meaningfully educate o...
Why is there resistance to the idea that public funds should be used for art? What does it mean for the stewardship of cultural and educational organizations and the support of individual artists? And how does the relationship between non-profit and commercial culture impact how we value the creative sector?
Be it in her commanding, critically acclaimed written works or her masterfully insightful lectures, author and professor Azar Nafisi has given so many others the space and language to reflect on their own — often unseen and unacknowledged — experiences; enlightening and inspiring us all. Moderated by Zinhle Essamuah whose own command of storytelling includes working both i...
Whom do we trust to tell us what to read and, perhaps more importantly, should we trust anyone to tell us what not to read? And why? We put our trust in people and organizations for so many facets of our lives and our children’s education, but the perennial issuance of banned-book lists elicits confusion, questions, and controversy. The chief executive of the nation’s larg...
At first blush, this year might be considered the year of parental power, with the proliferation of parental bills of rights across the country that put limitations on what can be taught in public schools and allow objecting parents to seek removal of books from the school library. These bills and similar legislation purport to provide parents a greater voice in their chil...
For over a decade, Ascend at the Aspen Institute has lifted up parents’ voices and experiences to inform bold solutions for economic mobility in the United States. How does lived expertise influence the way programs and policies are created? What can we learn from a new wave of philanthropic efforts to invest in communities and their parent leaders? Four dynamic leaders sh...
Over the past decade, Walter Isaacson has explored the minds of history’s most curious innovators. Leonardo da Vinci. Benjamin Franklin. Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs. Jennifer Doudna. And now: Elon Musk. All geniuses, to be sure. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their...
As the world watches refugee families stream out of Ukraine, there is a renewed urgency to meet the needs of children caught in conflict zones — not just the basics of food and shelter, but also their emotional needs as they experience displacement and worse. How do we provide them the tools to cope with their circumstances? What initiatives are helping to mitigate the tra...
Intelligence is more than the gray matter sloshing around in your skull, and more than the nerves that make sense of your environment. Your mind utilizes extra-neural resources, including the perceptions and knowledge in the minds of others — so the more people you surround yourself with, the bigger your brain is. In this session, we’ll dive into the research that shows ho...
What should every American know? This question has long been debated, discussed, and deliberated. Amidst giant demographic and social shifts, it is more important than ever to define some common knowledge — cultural, pop cultural, historical, civic facts, memes, and references that every American should know. Answers need to come from all of us, not just a powerful few. Th...
Higher education was once one of our most trusted sectors in American society. But today, colleges and universities are struggling to hold onto that trust. Accused of being educationally ineffective, too expensive, obsessed with their own elitism, inept at dealing well with the explosion of depression and anxiety among their students — the list of criticisms is long. Many...
The nursing crisis is a healthcare crisis. Reports across the country are ominous –70% of nurses are reporting burnout, 32% are considering leaving the profession, hospital RN vacancy rates are 19% and accelerating. And the pipeline for new nurses is choked – nursing educators are leaving in droves, resulting in 80,000 highly-qualified prospective students being turned awa...
Schools of nursing, medicine, and public health are attracting applicants in record numbers and admiration for these professionals has never been higher. At the same time, many workers—burned out, burdened by debt, and facing mental health challenges—are fleeing the field. Given the appeal, the stress, and the vital nature of healthcare jobs, we need to understand how best...
Students and teachers have displayed remarkable courage in the face of overlapping traumas this past year. Building on that resilience and the new, innovative ways students and teachers stayed connected throughout the pandemic will be key as students return to school this fall. In this session, Dr. Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZ...